Comparison: Hamilton against Polymer and Boehm system

Irish Flute
1

Ok, here is the first of my comparison recordings:

http://www.flutesite.com/samples/hammy5fl.mp3

Here are the flutes in the order they appear:

  1. M&E 6-key polymer
  2. Seery Pratten model polymer
  3. M&E Rudall & Rose model polymer
  4. the Hamilton blackwood
  5. Gemeinhardt 3SS-B Boehm-system in sterling

There are a couple of things that were apparent to me from making this:

  1. having the Hamilton has changed the way I play flute;
  2. I used to go for a shaded, covered, dark sound, now I like to let it ring;
  3. the Hamilton is oustanding in every way;
  4. the polymer flutes are quite good in their own right;
  5. the M&E Rudall & Rose comes very close to the Hamilton in several respects and is my current choice for the best of the polymer flutes;
  6. the Seery with its thicker, coarser sound has its own unique charm;
  7. the Boehm-system flute actually can do quite well in Irish music if you don’t try to make a wooden flute out of it.

–James
http://www.flutesite.com

2

Interesting to compare those, James. It’s as if a curtain is removed when you play the Hammy to my ear but the M&E R&R model is certainly a close contender in terms of tone. I don’t think I’ve tried an M&E, there don’t seem to be many this side of the soup- what sort of price do they go for?

I’d have to reserve judgment untill I heard a few hard bottom D’s but it’s certainly holding it’s own in the range of that tune (due in no small part I’m sure to a well trained embouchure).

Regards, Harry.

3

Just seen the price of the M&E on down the list… seems very reasonable.

Cheers, H.

4

Thanks. Very interesting,
and well played, too.

5

Well, I’m no expert, but the Hammy sounded Wonderful to my ear…
What’s interesting to me is how well the Gemeinhardt sounded! Good work ~ and I guess that answers a few questions about whether a Boehm flute can sound “Irish” enough, even if your name isn’t Joannie Madden!

6

I thought the Boehm sounded much better than I expected. Different than a conical bore flute, but still very appropriate for Irish music. Plus, you play it well.

As for the conical bore flutes, I couldn’t discern any real, significant difference between the Hamilton and the M&E R&R model. I did think the Seery and the original M&E didn’t sound as nice, but that’s probably just my opinion.

As I mentioned earlier, you really do play well. I had my wife listen to the M&E R&R and the Hamilton sections (I just asked if she could tell the difference between the two, which she couldn’t either, since I didn’t want her to know it was a comparison of two different flutes - she always claims all flutes sound the same), and she asked (sounding really impressed I might add) “was that one you recorded?”. I’m a good man, because I could so easily have claimed it was me…

[ This Message was edited by: Jayhawk on 2003-02-15 00:16 ]